The Nintendo Wii was released on November 19th, 2006, with some fun games, such as The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Warioware: Smooth Moves, Rayman Raving Rabbids, and of course Wii Sports. We can agree it had a healthy launch window. A short nine months later a new Nintendo IP surfaced, one of which I had never experienced before or even had thought of as a genre I would care about. Well, this series got my feet wet into a new kind of interactive experience I now thoroughly enjoy to this day.
I never knew what a relaxing gaming experience was until I played Endless Ocean, an adventure game filled with scuba diving and exploration. It made me feel like I was diving into the salty sea to seek treasure while coming across over 350 species of wildlife. Arika the developer of Endless Ocean, brought a sequel to the Nintendo Wii in 2009 titled Endless Ocean: Blue World which expanded the vast feel of the first title and included over 400 species of animals. With such an amazing foundation and no sequel since 2009, could we see a new entry?
While we have been waiting, I have come across some substitutes to Endless Ocean, the first one I saw when I attended E3 2016. I came across a booth from an indie company called Giant Squid who released a game called Abzu. Abzu was a beautifully cell shaded art piece coupled with a wonderful musical score, that gave me a sense of exploration that I loved in the Endless Ocean series. Though Abzu was its own game within a different genre It didn’t stop me from wanting more games that involve underwater related games.
A few years later I came across yet another diving exploration game which was a bit more like Endless Ocean, this time it was a title called Beyond Blue from an indie company called E-Line Media. This adventure had you following whales and the impact humans make on aquatic life. This game had informative videos, a passionate story, and stellar music. This game is what I hope to see Endless Ocean take some inspiration from and infuse it with the mechanics they already have established.
So, when will a new Endless Ocean surface? What could a new entry in the series bring to a new generation of gamers? Have you play either of the Endless Ocean games? Do these types of games float your boat? Let us know your thoughts.
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